I have 2 La Mancha Does, and will kidd for the first time at the end of Feb.

Smooth was given selenium, Bar Vac(CDT) by her previous owner/breeder prior to us picking her up, she is CAE neg. I notice lite crusting on her ears.

Jade just came back from being bred to a boer buck. We rescued her last year and nursed her back to health, she was in very bad shape. She was fattened nicely prior to being bred, had Bar Vac within 6 months, and has been wormed prior to being bred, CAE negative. She appears to be the primary carrier of this, and seems to have brought it back with her from the breeding. Her ears are badly crusted, and lots of fluid in the ear canal.

I cleaned both of the ears with witch hazel, and wiped out the canals with cotton. I have done a lot of reading here in the archives, but not found a reference for this. Is this an ear infection, or a parasite such as mites or lice?

Also, I am in CA and can not purchase selenium injections here. Where can I find BO-SE through mail order for goats please?

Thanks in advance f

-- Deborah Escobar (joeanddeborah@earthlink.net), February 17, 2002

Answers

This is very common in LaMancha's Deborah. Part of month to month care of LaMancha's along with trimming their feet is to clean their ears. Those who use Ivermectin as their wormer, circumvet the need for checking for mites. The witch hazel is fine, we simply brought a wash cloth in a bowl of hydrogen peroxide out to the barn at hoof trimming time and placed it on the ear, fizzing out the wax. If you look closely you will see that does with some elf to the ear, have ear canals that actually drain up, something that clogs very eaisly as nothing drains up naturally. LaManchas can actually get pockets of infection at the base of the ear which is squishy so very easily distinguished from CL. As far as Jade being a carrier of this, yes it could be mites, but unlikely, does Jade have a longer ear than Smooth? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002.